How The Lack Of Human Security Can Threaten State Security Analysis

Edward Azar- How the Lack of Human Security can Threaten State Security.
Huge Miall, Oliver Ramsbotham and Tom Woodhouse (2014b) separate intra-state conflict theories into two broad categories of grievance-based and greed-based theories. Grievance based theories focus on repression of human needs, society structures and identity issues as explanatory factors of violent conflict whereas greed based theory claim, that violent conflict is fueled by economic incentives. Both types of theories recognize the ability of citizens to constitute a violent threat to state security.
Edward Azar’s theory of protracted social conflict might be the most influential of the grievances based theories (Kolås 2014). Protracted social conflict refers to
Nine years after Sri Lanka’s independence the Sinhala nationalist party Sri Lanka Freedom Party won the parliamentary elections in 1955 by promising to increase Sinhalese influence in Sri Lanka which had been neglected through colonial times (Ibid.). In 1956 ‘The Sinhala Only Act’ replaced English as the official language in the country with Sinhala, not recognizing the rights of the Tamil minority to speak their language (ibid.). Sinhala became the only language of state institutions and the educational systems creating a decrease in formal education and restricting access to state recourses amongst the Tamil minority (Thiranagama 2013). The ‘Sinhala Only Act’ marked the beginning a highly authoritarian majority rule through democratic institutions (Horowitz 1998). The conflict developed into a civil war between the Sri Lankan state and the separatist group the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who was the main actor representing the Tamil minority (Thiranagama 2013). The LTTE was supported by a strong international diaspora that provided economic support to the group making it possible to maintain its large guerrilla army for almost three decades (Dharmawardhane 2013). The civil war lasted from the mid 1980s to 2009 with a negotiated ceasefire between 2002 and 2006. During this time the LTTE was labelled a terrorist group and the larger international community perceived the Sri Lankan government as fighting terrorism within its territory, having legitimate reasons to carry out a war against its own citizens (Höglund and Orjuela